NewOriginalSchwann

Remove this, Necropolis hasn't been a relevant lore entity for multiple years now and mentioning it now is simply going to confuse people.

Completely agree on the Idris labcoats, the ones we have now are a big downgrade. Most of the other labcoats (and the berets, for that matter) are also downgrades and have lost a lot of what makes the unique, with Zeng-Hu in particular now looking incredibly washed-out and dull (see below). The colors have overall become a lot less vibrant, and it looks like they were accidentally put into a washing machine that contained bleach. I'll additionally echo what others have said in the thread: the switch from black being black to being a kind of steel grey/blue tone is really weird to me, and doesn't make a lot of sense. The Zavodskoi black beret and black uniform now look more like PMCG equipment than anything Zavodskoi should wear. In fact, they are essentially almost the same sprite (see below). This makes your argument about the old EPMC paramedic uniform intruding on the color scheme of Zavodskoi hold even less weight, as now we have a nearly 1:1 copy of Zavodskoi's color scheme already in-game. I challenge anybody to tell the berets and caps apart from the back sprite, as I don't think there's a single pixel of difference. Finally, the new security "stab vests" look awful. I don't want to have to cosplay as the VDV every round or select a jacket in order to get rid of them, please remove them from officer spawns and place them in the loadout or completely remove them.

On the Ground at Capon This is Liao Qi, reporting to you from the arcology of Capon. Last week, this arcology was the site of fierce fighting between Solarian and Martian forces over control of the arcology. Now it’s rapidly being transformed into a hub of Solarian Army activity, and Solarian Army forces seem set to launch further incursions into what they have deemed “lawless territories.” Myself and my colleague, Odette Noyer, have been able to interview several people who were there for what local residents are now calling the Battle of Capon. “Honestly, I thought it would be worse. Taking it, I mean,” says Harvey McEwan, an enlisted soldier of the Solarian Army from Venus. “They weren’t very organized, the gangs we were fighting. Most of their guys gave up without a fight, ‘cause they don’t have enough water to keep going.” “Why don’t they have enough water?” asks Odette Noyer. “Phoron contamination, probably,” McEwan pauses for a moment. “Most of the engineers, the skilled technical staff, those guys? They ran north towards security, left everybody else to suffer the aftermath of the explosion, yeah? Fat lot of [CENSORED] [CENSORED], all this talk of ‘Martian solidarity against Sol,’ or whatever. Typical guy here just doesn’t wanna die of dehydration or phoron poisoning.” Emma Madden, a resident of Capon, seems to share McEwan’s opinions. “Honestly? Mom and dad were always gung-ho [CENSORED] Martians, always talking about how we needed to band together against Sol ‘cuz they nuked us,” Madden snorts and shakes her head, taking a moment before speaking again. “But like, come on, can’t they just look around? People in Capon’s been dying for nearly a year now, not like our [CENSORED] rah-rah Martian can-do [CENSORED] attitude helped us out.” More from Mars as this story develops.

Denied following discussion with the human lore team, as this isn't really something we'd like to see added to the setting. Scrunch moment.

Chief Security Officer sounds like a middle-management position between the officers and the actual head of the department, rather than the actual head of the department. It would be like if we renamed Chief Medical Officer to Chief Medical Doctor. Additionally, it's currently used for lore figures as CSO is a real executive-level management position. Chief of Security sounds a lot better and is not used by any currently-existing lore figures to my knowledge.

BREAKING: Provisional Government of Mars Establishes Control of Capon Governor-General Tereza Varzieva has announced the end of formal resistance in the arcology of Capon, with the arcology’s militia commander formally surrendering following a three-day battle throughout the complex. Varieva thanked the Solarian government for sending additional units to support the Provisional Government’s forces. A dozen tajara captured during the battle within Capon have been detained pending deportation to the People’s Republic of Adhomai. Our reporters on the ground claim lack of a unified resistance in Capon, which has long been controlled by several warring gangs, allowed the provisional government to quickly seize control over it. Capon is located within the northern territories of the planet and is in close proximity to the northern pole controlled by the Provisional Government of Mars. The arcology has suffered from water supply issues since the Violet Dawn disaster in late 2462 and our ground reporter team has informed the XNS that the Solarian Navy has landed multiple dropships filled with water supplies for the arcology. Governor-General Varzieva has announced that the seizure of Capon is “first step,” in bringing Mars back to normalcy, even if the turbulent environmental hazards pose a significant threat to the future of the planet. In other news, sources on Mars indicate that the Robinson and Rama archologies have opted to formally surrender to the Solarian government, citing a critical shortage of water due to widespread phoron contamination of their aquifers. Our team on the ground, Liao Qi and Odette Noyer, are expected to arrive in the arcologies shortly.

BREAKING: Provisional Government of Mars to Attempt Restoration of Solarian Control The Provisional Government of Mars has announced that it intends to bring the planet back into the fold of the Solarian Alliance in order to “stabilize the planet and restore order to regions south of the northern pole,” according to its Governor-General. Those arcogies that have remained independent of the Provisional Government of Mars lack formal or unified government and could not be reached for comment. XNS reporters Liao Qi and Odette Noyer, presently in Mars, report a mixed mood on the ground. Some are overwhelmed with joy at the prospect of rescue and stability, yet many —particularly Mars’ “Red” nationalists — remain suspicious of the Solarian government and its intentions. Governor-General Varzieva is currently the youngest planetary administrator within the entirety of the Solarian Alliance, having been promoted to the position shortly after the Violet Dawn Explosion in 2462. Her initial arrival on the Red Planet sparked controversy regarding the use of force on those that had been unable to flee the hazardous environment, with reports circulating of summary executions and group imprisonment — particularly of tajara. She has since managed to expand the oversight of the Provisional Government of Mars from Unified Kunlun to a significant region surrounding the northern icecaps - consisting of Mysterion, Marvinia, Chicago, and Draka. Sol System Provisional Governor Hendrik Strom has publicly applauded the strategies deployed on Mars, and recently hosted Governor-General Varzieva on Unity Station. He has denounced any notions of Varzieva’s supposed bias against the tajara, noting her actions are done to reinforce the Third Tajara Ban, originally established 2462. Sol’s interest in Mars marks a change in police by the military government currently ruling it, which has long ignored Mars.

Onwards to Mars The journey that myself, Laio Qi, and my colleague, Odette Noyer, took to the surface of the Red Planet was anything but typical. Prior to the “Solarian Collapse,” of 2462, one would take an easy enough route: Xanu to Konyang, and then to Callisto, and then to the Martian surface. The main risks on this route were overzealous Solarian customs officers eager to give somebody from the Coalition a miserable experience at their border. While doubtlessly inconvenient at times, this route got somebody from the Coalition to Mars in a fairly short time without many risks. And it wasn’t even that expensive, assuming you didn’t try to buy a flight on a bluespace drive-equipped ship. Of course that’s all in the past now: the current route from Xanu Prime to Sol is much longer, significantly more expensive, and often prone to unexpected risks. The easiest part of our journey was to get from Xanu Prime to the Republic of Biesel’s capital: the gates still functioned, and the price wasn’t terrible. More expensive than before thanks to the crisis, but a cost we were willing to pay for our story. Getting from Biesel to the Sol System was more difficult: much of the space around Biesel is a chaotic space known as the “Corporate Reconstruction Zone,” where underequipped Tau Ceti Foreign Legion – the Republic’s main fighting force – fight alongside corporate paramilitaries against pirates, Solarian mercenaries, and anti-corporate insurgents. Chartering a pilot was difficult, but we eventually found one: a former Solarian Navy pilot named Gao, who requested we only use his first name for our story. After we paid our “flight fees,” Gao took us – with few questions asked – from Biesel, through the Reconstruction Zone, and into the territory the Solarian Alliance still doggedly hangs onto. It took another bribe to get through the Solarian border patrols that police the space near the Alliance-Republic border. After this point our flying became relatively smooth, and the process of landing on Mars itself was, stunningly, a fairly simple manner. Kunlun, the current capital of the Alliance’s Martian government, remains a functional shuttleport, yet the signs of the Violet Dawn crisis are everywhere: signs indicating the way to “refugee processing” can be found throughout it, and the arcology itself is full of often-ramshackle refugee housing. Mars, to the people here, is still bleeding. Myself and Odette, along with Gao, will remain on Mars for some time, reporting on the situation of both it and its people.

Seconding this opinion. Towards the end of your time playing as Goldman, I was actively avoiding rounds in which he was played due to his tendency to hijack rounds and turn them into Goldman Station (also featuring you, the player, as an extra sometimes). Frankly, sometimes it's good to leave a character behind and move on.

Mars: One Year Later The Violet Dawn Explosion forever changed Mars, engulfing a large portion of the planet’s southern hemisphere. Millions died in the initial blast, and millions more in the ensuing chaos that erupted afterwards. Food shortages, overpopulation and ecological collapse are currently being experienced by Martians unable to escape the decaying planet. The Violet Dawn explosion brought with it the near-total collapse of Martian society itself. Arcologies across the Martian dunes lay in ruin, abandoned by their populations as phoronic flash fires continue to spur across regions with high concentrations of the toxic element. Resources previously deemed valuable have since become worthless, with water becoming an almost rare and exotic resource due to it being rationed and restricted by the Provisional Government of Mars that controls its access. The Provisional Government of Mars, which succeeded the previous civilian government after its collapse in the wake of the Violet Dawn Explosion, led by Governor-General Tereza Varzieva, has shown no interest in integrating itself into the Martian political landscape. It is content to control only the region around the northern ice cap — one of the last stable sources of water on Mars — along with, select arcologies, and off-world shuttle ports. Outside of PGM control, anarchy reigns. Criminal gangs and local warlords dominate what arcologies remain stable outside of the PGM’s mandate, and roving gangs of bandits take whatever they want from survivors by force. Reports from Mars are sparse and often hard to confirm. Refugees indicate total chaos: arcologies collapsing, the Provisional Government’s territory launching indiscriminate airstrikes to maintain control of its region, and raging phoron fires capable of covering multiple square kilometers that turn sand to glass in their wake. To investigate these rumors for the Xanusii News Service. I, Laio Qi, an ace reporter with experience in multiple conflict zones including Adhomai, and my colleague, Odette Noyer, will do what no journalist has done before: sneak into the heart of the inferno, and report live from Mars.

Welcome to the Xanan News Service! The Xanusii News Service is dedicated to ensuring that the Orion Spur has access to independent, unbiased, and professional journalism that helps us all understand the galaxy we live in today. We pride ourselves on crafting deeply-reported journalism that is backed up by our team of on-staff experts. Our mission is simple: to seek the truth, and to help people understand the galaxy by uncovering it. The XNS believes that good journalism is key to ensuring a better and more fulfilling life for us all, and we strive to remain unbiased in our work to give our readers the best possible perspective on situations. Our core values — independence, integrity, and excellence — guide our mission, and every article we release. Our staff are a key part of our mission and represent one of the most diverse news teams in the Orion Spur. Our diversity allows us to cover developing stories throughout the Orion Spur, no matter which nation they may be breaking in. From the Jargon Federation to Assunzione, the XNS will always provide the public with accurate, unbiased, and informative reporting.

Hello. I, both in my position as a human lore deputy and as a person, have found your attitude, particularly as it applies towards lore, to be improper. While it was a year ago, your conduct on Danse Macabre's Visegrad application was so inappropriate that it required intervention by the staff team, and required the deletion of every one of your posts. This conduct included accusing the writer of creating a xenophobic and fascist Polish ethnostate. The post I am referencing has since been deleted and hidden by staff. This is conduct that is unacceptable for a normal community member, let alone a prospective member of the lore team's management. Furthermore, I concur with Alb: you are very quick to assume the worst when it comes to the intentions of others, and often bring in-character spats into the out-of-character realm. As one of the main writers of Violet Dawn, I find the allegation that it activated some form of real-world trauma related to a tornado to be flippant at best and outright offensive to those that have survived similar disasters at worst. Your more recent comparison of the Mictlan arc to the Russo-Ukrainian Invasion is, in my eyes, highly disrespectful due to its use of a real and very current tragedy to get a "gotya" over the lore team. With that aside, I'll get into the body of your application. As a member of the human lore team I, much like Alberyk, do not support the re-addition of character examples on wiki pages. They were removed following a discussion with the broader team, and I cannot recall a single member of the entire lore team (at that point) arguing for their retention. To add them back onto the wiki pages would be taking a step backwards. Our setting is a dystopia, bad things are going to happen. War is one of those bad things. To conclude, you have consistently shown yourself to be incapable of the level head required for a managerial position and have not given me confidence in your abilities to do so in the immediate future.

it's over

This is a great response, and shows that you have a firm understanding of what makes playing around with Raskara fun to do. Your application has my full support, and I hope to work with you as a fellow lore writer very soon!

Hello. Like other participants in this thread I have absolutely no questions regarding your passion, competence, or knowledge of tajara lore. Most of my questions have already been asked (praise be to procrastination, I suppose) so I simply have one out of mostly curiosity. We've talked about the minor religions of the tajara, particularly Raskara, at length. Do you have any plans, or anything you'd like to do with them, particularly going into the NBT?

I didn't read a single word of this application. +1 good role player.

I'm in agreement with Miyazaki and Omi: service manager as a role feels incredibly unneeded and ultimately tacked on. I already have to deal with middle management in my real 40 hour workweek, and I don't particularly relish having to deal with it in a video game. At no point during the NBT tests did I feel that the service manager added anything to a round, but I did often feel inconvenienced by it. Instead of getting a whitelist, the entire role should be deleted and the responsibility over service should go back to the XO/HoP.

The one that I miss very, very much is the EPMC medical fatigues (and the security uniform by extension, since they're recolors of one another). It was a great sprite and looked incredibly distinct compared to the rest of the department. The photo below kind of hides it under a medical vest, but this is what it looked like.

I think 25 is a reasonable age. but going lower than that isn't a great idea. I also think they should be something other than civilian due to their importance, so why not add in a new manifest category named "command support," or something like that? You could put the bridge officers and service manager into it.

This is still my opinion. It's frankly very annoying to have to click these things whenever you spawn. It's also irrelevant now, as the NBT has a crew deck you should reasonable be able to get your equipment on before you go up to work. I don't store my briefcase and ID badge at my office, after all.

This is a very good, and very welcome, change. The Aurora's fullbright nature is very dull and frankly almost painful to look at at times.

Hello. First, please accept the human lore team's sincere apologies for how long it's taken to get to this application. Unfortunately, we have decided to deny it as it is not the direction in which we would like to take the Solarian Navy and the broader Wildlands. Thank you for your contribution.

This is a good idea, and I have no problems with it.

Kobi Goldman is, in my view, one of the most unpleasant characters I have ever interacted with on the Aurora. This is a very severe statement to make, so let me justify my stance through two main reasons: 1). Goldman is “whacky” as a character - Goldman does a lot of irrational, “off-the-walls things” when he’s played that other heads of staff balk at doing. To some (as seen by the support Sleepy has gotten in this thread) this is very fun, and creates easily memorable rounds. However, to those that don’t enjoy his zany hijinks, there is no way to escape from Goldman due to the fact that... 2). Goldman has unquestioned authority as a captain - As our wiki states: “The Captain is in charge of the station and everyone on it. [...] They are expected to be able to command their Heads of Staff effectively, and have ultimate authority on the station, second only to CentComm.” Effectively, this means that there is no way to say “no” to Goldman’s insane gimmicks that he uses to spice up rounds without faxing CCIA (which only heads of staff can do) and waiting for a response, which can take a very long time. If you don’t enjoy being in his focus, your only real option is to cryo. Those are my two main points, but I have other gripes. Having played with and observed Goldman during a variety of rounds, I find him to be completely and utterly insane by the standards of any reasonable character. No reasonable captain would spend most of his time antagonizing the crew, delaying transfer shuttles, and stroking his own ego in order to outcompete arbitrary numbers the player has made up. I can frankly say that I have never had an enjoyable Goldman round (even when I was fortunate enough to not be the center of his attention), and that his mere presence is enough to dissuade me from playing rounds. Ultimately to me the character is unrealistic, despite how much praise it gets, and feels more like a bad caricature of an “asshole boss” than something with any substance behind it. I cannot support the command application of somebody who makes a character like this.